AGM of Scotsman publisher to be lobbied today by NUJ

THE annual general meeting of The Scotsman publishers is to be lobbied today by members of the National Union of Journalists, in protest at job cuts.

Shareholders in Johnston Press will be lobbied as they enter the company’s AGM taking place in Edinburgh this morning.

The NUJ’s General Secretary, Jeremy Dear, is expected to be among those attending the lobby.

NUJ chapels at Johnston Press-owned papers in Yorkshire, East Lancashire and in Northern Ireland have all recently secured large mandates from members for industrial action against cuts in staff.

Journalists on the Yorkshire Post and sister paper, the Evening Post, have already taken 13 days of strike action over redundancies.

The NUJ says it has been seeking urgent talks with Johnston Press chief executive, John Fry, to establish the company’s plans for the future of its titles. The union is seeking guarantees of no compulsory redundancies.

Says Dear: “If they won’t give guarantees about quality journalism they should get out of the industry and sell their much-loved titles to someone who will.”